Last night, during the -- super awkward -- Final Fantasy XIII launch party in San Fransisco, Sony's Rob Dyer took a big shot across the bow of any Microsoft representatives in the audience by promising a pending announcement of exclusive content for the PS3 version of the game.
Today, on PlayStation Blog, Dyer revealed that the PS3 version includes a "secret in-game item" for Final Fantasy XIV -- a similar, or perhaps the same promotion offered in Japan. Additionally, PS3 players can enter for a chance to beta test Final Fantasy XIV, which has only been announced for PS3 and PC.
The in-game item might be interesting (baby chocobo vanity pet, please), but we're not really enthralled by a "potential opportunity" to get in on the beta. A potential opportunity? So there's a chance that there's a chance we'll be able to get into the beta? Well that's slightly better than no chance of a chance, we suppose.
#cosplay
When a pair of U.S. soldiers and Modern Warfare 2 fans get bored while stationed in Afghanistan, there can be only one outcome - spontaneous cover art cosplay. Doesn't cosplay fall under don't ask, don't tell? More »
#gdc
Kotaku darling, Independent Games Festival finalist and soon to be Electronic Arts-published game Shank gets a bit more face time this week as GDC kicks off. More »
#twitter
Experience the thrill of social networking and casual gaming convergence with Tweet Defense, an iPhone zombie tower defense title that boosts your units' power based on your Twitter activity. More »
Electronic Arts will publish 38 Studios' first game -- which will not be the studio's interminably tardy MMO Copernicus -- the company announced today. The game has been codenamed "Project Mercury" and is being developed by Big Huge Games, acquired by 38 last year. The mysterious, "epic single-player" RPG is under the stewardship of Ken Rolston, former lead of the last two Elder Scrolls titles.
"Project Mercury" is set in the Copernicus universe, created by fantasy author R.A. Salvatore, with artistic direction by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane. Salvatore is expected to speak later this week at GDC. The game is scheduled for release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC when it's done.
In what's becoming a GDC tradition, Sony today announced an update concerning the PhyreEngine, a free, cross-platform middleware tool offered to developers interested in creating PS3 games. First introduced in 2008, the PhyreEngine has since been utilized in games like Critter Crunch, Shatter and Flower. Today, SCEA has announced the expansion of PhyreEngine compatibility to the PSP.
"We're very happy to see the continued popularity of PhyreEngine with the global game developer community," SCEI senior VP of technology Teiji Yutaka said. "PhyreEngine for PSP was developed in response to requests from the game developer community, and we hope that the release of the PSP version demonstrates our commitment and support for game developers on all our platforms." The engine will be demoed at GDC this week.
The PS3 version of PhyreEngine has been praised by studios like Capybara and Sidhe. Perhaps the PSP iteration will be met with an equal amount of enthusiasm and help bolster the portable development community.
First he won a silver medal at the Winter Olympics, and now he'll be on the cover of the Wii-exclusive NHL 2K11. Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler sounds genuinely excited about the opportunity, telling The Canadian Press that the only way he thought he'd ever end up on a game cover was "if I put my own picture on there."
"It's a dream come true for me," Kesler, ever the good spokesplayer, said. "I grew up playing, and to be on the cover of 2K is unbelievable."
Kesler confirmed that he got in his motion capture time for the game last year with 2K10 cover athlete Alexander Ovechkin. "I'm not a flashy scorer like Ovechkin, by any means, but I think I'm exciting in my own right," Kesler observed, suggesting that his Olympic performance was what attracted publisher Take-Two to his game ... face.
Hopefully, for Kesler's sake, there's no equivalent "Madden Curse" for NHL games. Hockey players are already doomed to lose all their teeth anyway. NHL 2K11 will be out this fall.
Anger management simulator God of War III cost $44 million to create, according to director of production development John Hight, which is "right within budget." Speaking with Giant Bomb, Hight revealed that the team of 132 staff required to finish the third installment was more than double the crew (of about 60) on hand to wrap up God of War II, with the biggest growth occurring in the graphics and art departments.
Considering the ultimate Kratos adventure will likely go on to become a phenomenal sales hit, the $44 million budget isn't as ridiculous as it might seem. Consider that Gran Turismo 5's budget, at last count, had reportedly ballooned to around the $60 million mark. On the other hand, Ken Levine previously put the first BioShock's budget at about $15 million. With such variation in current-gen development costs, in the end, the pirce is just a number -- and in the case of God of War III, it was certainly worth the dough.
#japan
From a Japanese game developer saying that the Japanese industry was "finished" to lower attendance, last year's Tokyo Game Show was disastrous. This year can only go up. More »
Game Informer's latest "TidBits" column features a a glorious list of "inside baseball" stats from Dragon Age: Origins. Some of the numbers are simply cute, while others are positively frightening: "QA analyst Bruce Venne played 1,957.55 hours of Dragon Age PC in 5,352 games." Consequently, "The Bruce" was awarded to staff that played more than Venne in a single month -- the honor was bestowed only once.
While the list is mostly packed with numbers, there are some notable non-numerical did-you-knows, like the staff's affectionate nickname for the Ogre, "Fluffy," and, unsurprisingly, the revelation that one of the BioWare crew makes chain mail "from scratch."
Check out the full list of Dragon Age tidbits on Game Informer.
#ea
Call it Project Mercury, and as of today, call it an EA game. The epic role-playing game that won't — confirmed! — be called The Adventures of Curt Schilling has a home and a whole lot of mystery around it. More »
It's not so surprising, really, that Modern Warfare 2, arguably the world's most popular video game, would recruit such a staggering amount of bodies for its perpetual online war. But, there it is: 25 million unique players, as revealed in a tweet from Infinity Ward's community guy-at-large, Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling. We've contacted Infinity Ward for specific platform numbers, but in the meantime, Bowling offers a bit more to chew on:
He confirms the majority of players are taking the fight to Xbox Live, but he says the PS3 comes in at "a close" second. That puts the PC space in third, though it's still enlisted "millions," according to Bowling. But, what about that boycott? Oh, right.
Now, it should be noted that Modern Warfare 2's reported 25 million players aren't necessarily all on active duty. Surely, more than a few steadfast soldiers have taken up positions in DICE's Battlefield: Bad Company 2. No rest for the weary, eh?
If you've ever wanted to transport into the massively-multiplayer Starfleet of Star Trek Online, now is your chance to make it so.
Amazon's Deal of the Day features the game for $28 -- a better price than even a Ferengi could negotiate. (Mostly because Ferengi don't really exist.) Plus, the 44-percent discount off the list price should help take the sting out of the monthly fee.
Amazon has also temporarily discounted the Collector's Edition, from $80 to $48. Don't you want the little communicator badge? Of course you do. As with all Amazon Deals of the Day, this one's over at midnight PT or when the shop runs out of stock.
As Steam shows no signs of slowing its dominance of digital distribution for PC (and Mac!), it's only natural that more niche services would arise; not really to oppose, but to compliment Valve's service. Enter Desura, a distribution platform similar to Steam, save for one important aspect: It's focused on independent game developers.
Primarily, Desura will try to give a home to those games turned away by Steam. Though the service won't just open the floodgates to everything, its creator (and indie mod site) ModDB says it hopes to make acceptance or rejection much more transparent than Valve's process. Desura is described as a community-based service, intended to foster better, more symbiotic relationships between developer and fan.
Desura isn't slated to go live until April, but you can get an early look over at Rock Paper Shotgun.
#clips
The 2010 World Cup draws near, and that means one thing: football. OK, two things: football, and an EA Sports football game cashing in on the World Cup. More »
#musicgames
There are strings on the newly-unveiled Power Gig guitar, which is coming, with a brand-new music game to video game systems this fall. But you won't have to be Jimi Hendrix to play it. More »
Can the music genre be revitalized? Can gaming newcomer Seven45 Studios -- a combined publisher, developer and hardware manufacturer -- sway current fans of Guitar Hero and Rock Band to try yet another music game, and one that focuses only on guitar? The odds are undoubtedly against them.
At the very least, Seven45's Power Gig: Rise of the Sixstring isn't destined to become another Rock Revolution. It's true that Power Gig isn't fundamentally different from the other band games out there, offering four-player support with guitars, drum and vocals; however, Seven45's twist is the guitar: a fully-functioning electric guitar with real strings and the ability to create real music.
At first glance, Seven45's peripheral won't look very different from a standard guitar. In fact, were it not for the colored labels that run along the side of the instrument, and the Xbox jewel embedded on the face of the guitar, it'd be hard to tell it apart from a proper instrument. When not connected to a game console, it can be strummed with a standard pick (or your hand), and it will even connect to standard guitar amps.
